TOP NEWS

🏃 Senior travelers today harness technology for safer, easier, and more enriching travel experiences. Virtual Reality (VR) allows pre-travel exploration of destinations; wearable tech like smartwatches monitor health on the go; voice-activated assistants act as personal travel concierges; smart luggage comes with GPS and charging ports; senior-friendly apps feature larger text and emergency services; tailored travel platforms cater to seniors' needs; cybersecurity tools like VPNs protect digital information. These tech tools are redefining travel for seniors, enabling them to explore with confidence and ease.

📢 Katharine Ames emphasizes the importance of starting hospitality with the team: value colleagues to enhance guest experience, personalize celebrations for team milestones, anticipate needs of team and their families, promote peer-to-peer hospitality, and leadership by example. Additionally, Ames discusses these points on the Hospitality Daily Podcast available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Hospitality professionals are encouraged to share their thoughts and follow Hospitality Daily for more insights.

🏠 Grand Hotel Courmayeur Mont Blanc, part of R Collection Hotels, joins Preferred Hotels & Resorts' L.V.X. Collection, increasing Preferred's global presence to over 600 properties in 80 countries. Boasting 72 rooms, two dining venues, and a 5,382 square-foot spa, this luxury hotel exemplifies the family-owned R Collection Hotels' portfolio of 10 Italian hotels. Rockbridge acquires Hyatt House Chicago West Loop/Fulton Market, a 200-room hotel featuring a rooftop activity center and built in 2019. Extended Stay America launches Premier Suites in Portland, Oregon, offering 146 rooms and aiming to expand beyond its 700 U.S. properties. Hotel Ivy, Minneapolis, embarks on a multi-million-dollar renovation, with phase one complete and phase two expected by early fall.

🏨 Atlas Hotels innovates across its 58 UK properties, post-COVID, by enhancing F&B experiences—refreshing bars, updating beer suppliers, and standardizing drinks menus to meet premiumization trends. Product Operations Manager Craig Couper highlights the significance of cloud-based tech for real-time performance monitoring and managing tailored promotions, ensuring consistency and control through training and seamless integration of new properties.

🏨 Hospitality businesses set short- and long-term goals focusing on key metrics such as Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), occupancy, and average daily rate (ADR). Utilizing property management system (PMS) reports, hoteliers analyze historical data and booking behaviors to fine-tune distribution and pricing strategies. Regular tracking of occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR, while comparing with market performance, aids in adjusting rates. Implementing a revenue management system (RMS) automates tracking and updating pricing, suitable for properties of all sizes. Reviews and value-for-money scores on OTA sites also influence pricing decisions. Pricing strategies should be reevaluated 3-4 times a month or more, depending on property size and market competition.

🇷🇺 Abu Dhabi emerges as a leading destination for Russian long-haul travelers in H2 2024 with a 31.4% increase in seat availability from 2023. Russian outbound travel to the UAE surged by 14% in H1 2024 over 2023, with nearly 1 million visits to the UAE, marking an 11% year-over-year increase. Luxury accommodations are preferred, with 42.7% of Russians staying in 5-star hotels, and 90% choosing hotels, particularly resorts. Russian stays in Abu Dhabi extended by 57%, averaging 3.4 days in 2024 up from 2.9 days in 2023. Russia ranks third for average daily spending in Abu Dhabi.

🏨 As inflation impacts traveler budgets and "revenge travel" fades, hotels face shrinking profit margins. A shift from revenue to profit-centric strategies is essential for profitability. Key strategies include incentivizing profit over revenue, managing labor costs effectively, and implementing Total Profit Optimization to focus on all revenue areas and their profitability. CBRE's VP, Miri Vasilevsky-Pinto, emphasizes the need for a cross-disciplinary approach and data-driven decisions. Optimizing channel distribution can reduce acquisition costs and increase profit margins.

💰 Starting October 1, the U.S. GSA increases the FY 2025 standard lodging rate from $107 to $110 and M&IE rate from $59 to $68. The combined standard per diem rate sits at $178. Six locations previously classified as NSAs now receive the standard rate, with no new NSAs added. This change potentially injects $100 million into the hotel industry, as estimated by AHLA. The rates, reviewed annually by GSA, are based on a trailing 12-month period's ADR for lodging and meals, minus 5%.

🏨 Hotels must adapt to changing client and employee preferences, focusing on experience enhancement. Creating positive guest interactions involves technology-based self-check-in/out and attentive front desk service. Improved concierge services, digital communication options, and sustainability measures like using eco-friendly materials are also important. Promptly addressing negative feedback is vital. Benefits include a 29% increase in positive reviews from attentive service, 40% more for quickly resolving issues, and 13% higher return rates for recognized loyalty, per Deloitte.

🏨 Hotels cater to non-guests with amenities like pools and meeting rooms for revenue, exposure, and community ties. ResortPass, leading with 1,500 hotels in 27 countries, offers day passes often under $65, with luxury options over $200. Hilton and Hyatt embrace the trend for local and leisure daytime visits, with Hyatt piloting an experiential tech partner, Way, since late 2023. Royalton increased ResortPass bookings by 50% and revenue by 80% from June 2023 to June 2024. CitizenM offers memberships across its 34 hotels with perks like 15% off stays and free co-working space use. Hotels manage non-guest impact to prevent compromising guest experiences.